Who owns Costco? Shareholders, investors and founders of the warehouse club giant? (2024)

CostCo is one of the world’s largest retailers, the third-largest as of 2021. Costco’s business model is centered around the concept of selling a wide variety of products in bulk at low prices. Much of the revenue is generated by membership fees of which there are nearly 128 million worldwide. These factors have made the company one of the largest corporations in the US.

Costco is a publicly traded company, meaning it is owned by its shareholders. There is no single owner.

How publicly owned companies operate

Public companies have shares that are traded on stock exchanges. Anyone can buy shares of the company and these shareholders own a portion of the company.

Public companies have a board of directors elected by shareholders.

The largest shareholders of Costco

According to Investopedia, Craig Jelinek is the largest shareholder in the company and also holds the roles of President and CEO. He owns 333,075 shares of the company, or about 0.08% of all shares.

I love a good Costco date pic.twitter.com/ofpFkj8FER

— IEP Advocate 👩🏾‍🏫 (@nancytaughtyou) November 25, 2023

Charles Munger is second, owning 166,489 shares. Patrick Callans has the third most with 65,361 shares, around 0.01%.

The history of Costco and its shareholders

Costco was founded in 1976 by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman. The first store, originally named Price Club, opened in San Diego, California. Costco as a brand opened in 1983, becoming publicly traded two years later. The two merged in 1993 under the name PriceCostco with a rebranding to the solo CostCo name in 1997 in a large rebrand.

Who owns Costco? Shareholders, investors and founders of the warehouse club giant? (2024)

FAQs

Who owns Costco? Shareholders, investors and founders of the warehouse club giant? ›

Much of the revenue is generated by membership fees of which there are nearly 128 million worldwide. These factors have made the company one of the largest corporations in the US. Costco is a publicly traded company, meaning it is owned by its shareholders. There is no single owner.

Who are the shareholders of Costco? ›

Largest shareholders include Vanguard Group Inc, BlackRock Inc., State Street Corp, VTSMX - Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares, VFINX - Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares, Fmr Llc, Morgan Stanley, Geode Capital Management, Llc, Invesco Qqq Trust, Series 1, and Bank Of America Corp /de/ .

Who actually owns Costco? ›

Costco is mainly owned by institutional investors, who own over 70% of shares. The largest shareholders in December 2023 were: The Vanguard Group (9.10%) BlackRock (6.90%)

Who is owning Costco? ›

The ownership structure of Costco (COST) stock is a mix of institutional, retail and individual investors. Approximately 39.67% of the company's stock is owned by Institutional Investors, 0.82% is owned by Insiders and 59.51% is owned by Public Companies and Individual Investors.

Who is the founder and owner of Costco? ›

As one of the most influential retail pioneers of the late 20th century, James Sinegal reshaped the commerce landscape through his audacious innovation and intensely humanistic philosophy while founding Costco.

Is Costco privately owned? ›

Costco is a Washington corporation, publicly traded under the Nasdaq ticker symbol "COST", with its home office in Issaquah, Washington. A more complete description of the Company and its business is contained in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Is Costco owner a billionaire? ›

James D. Sinegal (born January 1, 1936) is an American billionaire businessman and the co-founder and former CEO of the Costco Wholesale Corporation, an international retail chain.

Is Costco owned by Walmart? ›

Costco and Sam's Club have very similar business models. Costco is a publicly traded company, while Sam's Club is a subsidiary of Walmart. Costco's membership fees are more expensive and the prices of basic products at Sam's Club are generally cheaper.

Is Costco owned by BlackRock? ›

2024-01-26 - BlackRock Inc. has filed an SC 13G/A form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing ownership of 30,751,817 shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (US:COST). This represents 6.9 percent ownership of the company.

Who is CEO of Costco? ›

Ron VachrisPresident, CEO and Director

He has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company since February 2022.

Who makes the most money at Costco? ›

Some of the highest wages a worker can make at Costco are in the job titles Registered Pharmacist ($136,000), and title Full Stack Software Engineer ($133,750) which are the highest paying jobs at Costco.

How much money does the owner of Costco make a year? ›

For Craig Jelinek's final year as Costco CEO, the 71-year-old is going out with a financial bang. Jelinek's base salary for 2023 was $1.1 million, add to that stock awards of nearly $15 million and other compensation, for a total package worth a very respectable $16.8 million, per Costco's most recent proxy filings.

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